To The Future!
by ALTN101
Summary: Nanase Haruka had finally found his dream, to be an Olympic Swimmer along with Matsuoka Rin. With the disapproval of Haruka's career choice, his parents stop him from swimming at all costs. Will Haruka still be able to keep swimming or will he have to quit swimming forever? Pairings: Rinharu&Reigisa, more will be added later.
1. Chapter 1

**NOTES:** Who's excited for season 3 of Free! to come out this summer? I definitely am lol and to commemorate the start of season 3 I've decided to upload this Free! fic for everyone to read. Sorry yet not sorry if I didn't put anyone's fave ship here. *smirk face* Also I just wanted to let everyone know that I wrote this story before the release of the three new movies and before season 3 was even announced so this story actually takes place after season 2. This file has been on my computer for so long...guess I just wasn't sure if I wanted to upload it because it's short and I think this first chapter is kind of uneventful...nothing much actually happens here but I hope that you'll read it anyways as there's a lot more drama to come. And...sorry for the long and boring intro…*is begging for forgiveness* So...have fun and thanks for reading in advance!

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Story 1, Part 1: Careers

A lone figure stood with his back to the clear blue pool as his own ocean blue eyes stared wistfully at the cherry blossom tree behind a fence that surrounded the pool area. Hands in the pockets of his blue jeans, he never once looked away from the reminder of his most precious rival, friend and love. If one was just merely passing by they would just see a teen with a bored poker face staring at a cherry blossom tree; only those close to him have a slight chance to see what he was truly thinking about.

His rival, his love was leaving again. He didn't want the other to go but he knew deep down that the other had already made up his mind to leave, to go back to the place that had made him want to quit swimming all together. Back to the place that had changed his friend drastically.

He closed his eyes, shielding away the pool of blue as he calmly allowed the wind to ruffle his hair, seeming to let the peaceful day sink in. He had his own training to do soon after all.

Suddenly the sound of loud pounding footfalls disrupted him of his tranquility and he snapped open his eyelids to turns his head slightly at the sound. Who he saw surprised him a little, although he didn't let it show.

"Haru!" The new comer called, making his way to the slightly shorter teen. A grin on his bright face showcased his sharp shark-like shining white teeth. Scarlet red eyes looked into ocean blue eyes as he smiled wider than humanly possible. Haru gave a responding rare small smile back, a mere twitch of the muscle around his mouth as he looked into the overjoyed scarlet eyes. He wish he himself could feel some of the joy the other was radiating with, but couldn't muster any.

"Rin." Haru replied softly and look at the other as he quirked up an eyebrow ever so slightly in a silent question. Rin was supposed at the airport by now and on his way to Australia.

"I needed to give you something before I left." The scarlet eyed teen replied with another grin as he pulled two boxes from his pocket. How he had missed seeing the protruding boxes Haru didn't know.

Giving one with a blue ribbon on it to Haru, he waited impatiently for the other to open it. With one look at Rin's excited and impatient expression, Haru looked slightly curious, shook his head and pulled the ribbon off and opened the box.

His eyes widen a small fraction as he admired the necklace lying daintily in the rectangular box.

Rin shifted uneasily as Haru continued to silently stare at the necklace. A minute had gone by and the blue eyed teen hadn't said anything yet. Not that he ever talked much to begin with.

"Do you like it?" The scarlet eyed teen asks his companion quietly, afraid his voice would shatter the invisible glass that seem to rise up from nowhere.

Slowly Haru nodded, he hadn't expected Rin to give him something like this and as a parting gift no less. Smiling with relief when he saw Haru give a slight nod of his head, his confidence came back as he stepped closer to the other and plucked the necklace from the box.

"This is a reminder that we'll be together again as soon as we finish our training. We'll make it to the Olympics and we'll win the gold metal. I'll always be there with you Haru. I'm not leaving, not anymore." Rin said softly as he joined the clasp of the necklace together, letting it hang around Haru's smooth porcelain neck and wrapping his arms around the ocean blue eyed boy from behind.

The dolphin charm on the necklace glistened in the sunlight as Haru leaned back slightly into Rin's embrace. He didn't want Rin to go all the way back, especially not now, but he knew that they'd have to go their separate ways sooner or later. At least in the future they could be together again, and he hoped on everything that Rin won't be distant with them, with him, ever again. As much as he hated to admit it, that had affected him more than he'd liked it to. Haru raised his hands up and held onto Rin's strong arms prolonging the embrace for as long as he could. He and Rin both didn't know when they would be able to meet up in person again. They both just hope it wouldn't be long.

Knowing he had to leave soon as he had procrastinated for long enough, Rin sighed deeply and spun Haru around slowly and pressed his lips softly on Haru's. Responding after a short moment, Haru wrapped his arms around Rin's neck to deepened the kiss and parting his lips ever so slightly for Rin to slip his tongue through and invade his mouth.

With a mental sigh, Rin broke apart their joint lips and looked deeply into Haru's very blue eyes, etching the slightly shorter boy's features into his memory. He knew he wasn't to likely forget, but he felt the need to take last good look at this wondrous blue eyed beauty before he left.

"I have to go now…" Rin said quietly breaking eye contact with Haru.

The usually quiet teen just nodded in understanding. He still had his arms wrapped tightly around Rin's neck, afraid of letting go as if he did, then the scarlet eyed boy before him would just disappear forever, and he didn't want that.

"I'll come back, I promise you Haru…" Rin said again after a moment of silence, his voice thin and wavering as tears started to form his bright red eyes. He was always one to easily start crying after all.

"I know you will…" Haru said finally speaking up again. He gave Rin a tight hug to which the taller teen responded to immediately, wrapping his arms tightly yet delicately around Haru's waist as if he was the most precious thing in the world to him, which in many ways he was.

"I love you, Haru." Rin whispered sensually into Haru's ear and loosened his hold on the blue eyed boy. Haru gave Rin another small rare smile and said quietly, "I love you too Rin...and I'll miss you."

Rin gave Haru a large grin showing off his shark-like sharp teeth and swooped in for another short kiss. He then allowed Haru to put on the necklace he'd gotten for himself to match up with the one he'd gotten for Haru, except his was a shark.

"Bye…" Rin said turning away with a slight wave looking back at Haru one more time before he'd have to travel thousands of miles away from the one person who matters most to him, away from Haru. The one he fell in love with, the one who could challenge him like no other and the one he will always chase after no matter what challenges are thrown at them and the one he'll always hold on tightly to, forever, and nothing would stand in their way.

"Bye, Rin…" Haru whispered quietly to the receding form of his red haired rival, to his optimistic dreamer boyfriend.

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 **A/N:** Idk if I made it clear lol but when Rin said he wasn't leaving anymore he meant that even if he was thousands of miles away, he'll always be in Haru's heart just like he is in his. And I know I could have easily made him do that but I didn't really think of it until several edits later and by then I was just too lazy to fix part of the chapter just for that bit of dialogue. But I feel like Rin being the romantic he is would definitely say something cheesy but sweet like that lol.

Annd thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed this chapter however short it is, but I'll come back with a longer chapter next time and let the drama begin whoo!


	2. Chapter 2

Story 1, Part 1: Careers

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A month after Rin had left for Australia, Haru engaged in his own training to become an Olympic Swimmer alongside the red haired teen.

It was going swimmingly[pun intended ^-^] until Haru's parents came home from their time away. Being the businessman that he was, Haru's father didn't approve of his only son's career choice.

Of course, his wife agreed with her husband even though she knew about her son's love for water and swimming she didn't think that he should make a career of it, so that night, they sat down with Haru and talked with him.

"Haruka, I know that you like to swim but we want better for you." His mother told him as the small family sat at the kitchen table conversing.

"Swimming is better for me," Haru said calmly, not showing any expression as he usually did.

"We meant for your future son. You can't just swim forever. I know that you've just graduated high school and your liking for something fun to do but you should think about your career." His father said folding his hands together in a businesslike manner out of habit.

"This is my future," Haru said again, getting annoyed that his parents were being so persistent.

"You can't make a living from swimming Haruka," his mother insisted, giving her husband a side glance silently asking him if they should give him the news.

Her husband nodded and they turned to Haru with a serious look.

"Look, son, your mother and I are only looking out for you and we only want you to succeed in our best interests." His father said and Haru looked at them disinterestedly.

"What your father means Haruka, is that we signed you up for a prestigious cooking school to hone your skills. We want you to become a chef." His mother said and his father nodded.

Haru frowned and vaguely wondered if he had heard his parents wrong.

"I want to swim," he said and his mother sighed while his father shook his head.

"Haruka I know that you like to swim but we already paid and signed you up for this school. We can't back out now." His mother insisted.

"Then tell them I'm not going and to refund you the money. I want to swim." Haruka said stubbornly, not budging from his decision one bit.

"Haruka! It's not possible! You can't make a living out of just swimming. We want you to do something better. If you don't stop now we'll just have to forcefully pull you out!" His father said raising his voice and slammed his hand loudly on the table. Haru's ocean blue eyes widen in shock because his father had never yelled at him like that or slammed the table like that either. It unnerved him a little, but he kept a passive expression.

"...I don't want to be a chef, I want to keep swimming. Why can't you both understand that!" Haruka asked shaking his head once his father had calmed down and muttered a quiet apology.

"Haruka we told you, swimming is all fun and games but you cannot make a living from swimming. We know that we aren't around much and we just want you to have a stable life. Your father and I are just worried about you." His mother tried her best to explain the situation to her son as simply as she could.

"I've been fine on my own," Haru said stubbornly, and his parents sighed.

"You don't work and the money you get is the money that we send you. Please, Haruka consider this. It will be a better opportunity for you. Once we know that you're living a stable life we can feel more at ease." His mother said and his father nodded his agreement to what his wife was telling their son.

"...I still want to swim." Haru muttered lowly under his breath, annoyed that his parents won't understand that it's all he wants and needs.

"Preparations have already been made at the school, and they don't offer refunds, you have no other choice then to go or that will be a million dollars tuition you're throwing down the drain son." His father said, in his business man voice again.

Haru studied his parents with ocean blue eyes and wondered what he should do to get them to change their mind; on the other hand however, he couldn't just let his parents waste all that money on him like that, but swimming...he promised Rin that they would race each other during the Olympic and aim for the gold medal.

"...I don't want to quit swimming." Haru said defiantly and his parents sighed.

"We're not telling you that you have to quit. We are telling you that you can't pursue a career as a swimmer. You can swim all you like but you have to go to this culinary school." His mother sighed, this was more difficult than she had originally thought it would be.

"I don't want to!" Haru shouted, finally at his limit. He listened to them talk and they wouldn't even bother to consider his side of it nor his feelings for swimming so he abruptly stood up and stomped out of the dining room and holed himself up in his room making sure to slam the door loudly and ignoring his parents calling him.

They couldn't do that, not when he finally found what he was looking for. When he had finally found his dream. Most importantly, did that mean that he'd have to break his promise with Rin? That he couldn't swim alongside Rin anymore?

How would Rin react to this news he wondered, and was terrified of the answer. He had gone through so much to get Rin to swim again and now he had to quit swimming by force, he hated that, a lot.

 _Rin...what do I do?_ Haruka thought to himself as he curled up under his blanket and closed his eyes.

One thing for sure he probably shouldn't talk about his situation with Rin just yet. The teen had his own training and studies to worry about all the way in Australia after all. Haru thought that maybe he could sneak out and talk to Makoto about it but he realized that Makoto was still in Tokyo studying so he decided to tell Makoto first when he went back to Tokyo for school and his own training.

A few days later, Makoto greeted Haru at the train station in Tokyo, and his cheerful smile faded slightly when he notice that his best friend since childhood looked a little more subdued than usual.

"Haru? What's wrong? Something happened with your parents back home?" He asked, giving Haru a worried look.

Haru remained quiet, but gave a slight grunt. He still had no luck changing his parents' mind about their decision.

"Let's go somewhere less crowded to talk," Makoto said softly and Haruka gave a small nod and followed the tall sand brown haired teen.

"Were your parents against your career choice?" Makoto asked Haru once they had settled down in a small ramen shop.

Haru gave another nod, "they want me to become a chef. They told me that they want to send me to an elite cooking school and I can't become a swimmer." He finally poured out his troubles, "I don't want to." Haru finished and Makoto nodded slowly.

"Have you told your parents how much swimming means to you?" He asked, mind going through multiple solutions.

Haruka nodded with a hum of affirmation, "they know, but they keep telling me that swimming is not a legit career choice."

"I see, so your parents want you to have a more stable job," Makoto murmured, easily understanding Haru without much needed explanations.

"They won't listen to me, and they can't get the million dollars they spent on getting me into that school back either," Haru interjected and Makoto widened his bright lime green eyes.

"A million what now? Haru...if you don't go, are you saying they'll lose a million dollars?" Makoto asked the ocean blue eyed teen, shocked.

Haru nodded again and Makoto was beginning to think that finding a way to let Haru achieve his dream of swimming in the national pool was impossible.

"What do we do then?" Makoto groaned into his palm as Haru shrug.

"I was hoping you'd come up with something," Haru said and Makoto shook his head.

"Maybe Nagisa and Rei can help us." He suggested and Haru blinked, meaning that he agreed. He'd take all the help he can get in this. He didn't want his parents to lose money but he didn't want to quit on his dream either. It meant a lot to him and to a certain emotional redhead that he knew would cry if he caught word of what was going on. If he were to stop and become a chef, he wondered if Rin would forgive him for it. He didn't want to find out, he couldn't tell Rin he decided.

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 **A/N:** Hooray chapter 2! Aww poor Haru all he wanted to do was swim.

Wonder what schemes Nagisa and Rei will come up with along with Gou. :)

Thank you for reading and see you again next chapter!


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